I do not give 'speeches'; My talks are more of the conversation
type; I want that you should follow every word of what I say with
reverent attention, for your Aanandham is My Aahaaram - your joy
is My food. You can get Aanandham only by following the advice I
give you and this is why I am particular that you should listen
carefully and take to heart all that I say. This not a mere
lecture, wherefrom you do not seek new lessons for life.

The Lord is a mountain of Prema (love); any number of ants
carrying away particles of sweetness cannot exhaust His plenty. He
is an ocean of mercy without a limiting shore. Bhakthi (devotion)
is the easiest way to win His grace and also to realise that He
pervades everything; in fact, is everything!

Sharanaagathi (total surrender), leaving everything to His
will, is the highest form of Bhakthi (devotion). Once a Brahmin
was crossing a river bed near which some men were washing clothes.
Finding a nice new silk shawl on his shoulder, they fell upon him
in a group, shouting that it belonged to the palace and had been
given to them to be washed, but had been stolen and had not been
traced. The poor Brahmin yelled 'Naaraayana, Naaraayana,' when the
blows rained on him and so, Naaraayana rose from His Seat in
Vaikunththa and proceeded forward; but in a moment, He walked back
and resumed His seat much to the surprise of His consort who asked
Him the reason for the strange behaviour. Naaraayana said, "I
wanted to help that poor Brahmin who has fallen into a den of
scoundrels, but he has started beating them, blow for blow; My
help is no longer needed."

Conquest of Ego needed

When Bhakthi is just emerging as a sapling, a fence is needed
to protect the tender plant; that fence is Sanaathana Dharma
(eternal religion) and its rules, regulations and restrictions,
directions and commands. When the fruit is green, it will not fall
even when the gale is furious; but when is fully ripe, it drops to
the ground even in the silence of the night. A small fire will go
out in smoke even if a little green is placed on it, but the
forest fire will reduce to ashes even the greenest tree which
impedes its fierce march! What is needed is the conquest of the
ego.

The bullock shouts 'ham hai', 'ham hai' (I am, I am), in its
egoistic pride. And so, when it is just a few days old, you tie it
to a post, apart from its mother; you work it to skin and bones;
but yet, the animal does not learn the lesson of humility. Even
its skin when drawn tightly across a drum resounds egoistically,
Ham, Ham, Ham. And so, the skin has to be cut into slender strings
and then when the strings are pulled, the bullock reveals that it
has benefited by all the punishment it has undergone; it murmurs
Thum, Thum, Thum, (you, you, you), and its ego is gone.

The Haridhaasa (mendicant) goes along the streets, singing the
glories of the Lord. He has the sounding cymbals, two of them, the
eternal duet of good-bad, joy-grief, pain-pleasure in his right
hand and he twangs the Thambura (stringed musical instrument of
Samsaara with his left. Samsaara (worldly life) is the tune to
which his songs have to be adjusted, it is the Shruthi (musical
note). But both the Shruthi and Thaala (marking of time) are for
the purpose of heightening the effect of the song which issues
from his mouth, the song of the glory of God.

Three Types of Devotion

I remember telling a questioner in Maharaashtra, while in the
previous body, that there are three types of devotion: the Vihanga
method, where like a bird swooping down upon the ripe fruit on the
tree, the devotee is too impatient and by the very impatience he
exhibits, he loses the fruit, which falls from his hold; the
Markata method where like a monkey which pulls towards it one
fruit after another and by sheer unsteadiness is not able to
decide which fruit it wants, the Bhaktha too hesitates and changes
his aim much too often and thus loses all chance of success; and
the Pipeelika method, where like the ant which slowly but steadily
proceeds towards the sweetness, the devotee also moves direct,
with undivided attention towards the Lord and wins His grace!

Bhakthi and Shraddha (devotion and faith) are the two oars with
which you can take the boat across the sea of Samsaara. A child
told its mother when it went to bed at night, "Mother! Wake me up
when I get hungry." The mother answered, "There is no need, your
hunger will itself wake you." So too, when the hunger for God
comes, it will itself activise you and make you seek the food you
need. God has endowed you with hunger and He supplies the food; He
has endowed you with illness and He grows the specifics you need.
Your duty is to see that you get the proper hunger and the right
illness and use the appropriate food or drug!

Man must be yoked to Samsaara and broken; that is the training
which will teach that the world is unreal; no amount of lectures
will make you believe it is a snake unless you actually experience
it. Touch fire and get the sensation of burning; there is nothing
like it to teach you that fire is to be avoided. Unless you touch
it, you will be aware only of its light. It is light and heat
both; just as this world is both true and false, that is to say,
unreal.

Habit of judging others as Atheists or Theists

There is a widely prevalent habit now of judging others and
labelling them as theists or atheists. What do you know, what can
you know of the inner working of another's mind? There was once a
queen who was a great devotee of Raama; she felt so sad that her
husband, the Raaja, never even uttered the name of Raama and had
no Bhakthi. She had vowed that the first occasion on which she got
evidence of his Bhakthi or at least respect for Raamanaama, she
would conduct Puuja (ritualistic worship) in all the temples and
feed the poor on a lavish scale. Then, one night, while fast
asleep, the Raaja uttered the name of Raama thrice plaintively and
prayerfully. She heard the Naamasmarana and was happy at the
discovery of her husband's devotion to Raama; she ordered general
rejoicing throughout the kingdom and the feeding of the poor. The
Raaja did not know the reason for the celebration for he was only
told that it was an order of the Raani, which the officer carried
out. Similarly, a husband may not be aware of the excellence of a
wife's spiritual attainments.

There is the case of a couple who were proceeding through a
thick jungle on pilgrimage to an inaccessible shrine. The husband
saw on the footpath a precious stone, shining brilliantly when the
sun's rays fell upon it from between the leaves. He hastily threw
some sand over it with a movement of his foot so that his wife may
not be tempted to pick it up and become a slave to the tinsel. The
wife saw the gesture and chided the husband for still retaining in
his mind a distinction between sand and diamond. For her, both
were same.

Keep the Name as constant as breathing

The Raaja who spoke in his sleep the sacred name of Raama felt
very sorry, according to the story, that he let Raamanaama out of
his mouth, for he believed that no one should know of his 'love'
for Raama. There are many who will not shout about their Guru or
their favourite name and form, but whether you declare them to
others or not, keep them ever in your consciousness. Raamanaama or
any other name must be as constant as breathing. For this,
practice is essential.

A person once told Dr. Johnson, the famous English thinker,
that he could seldom get time to recite the name of God, what with
the hundreds of things he had to do from morning till nightfall
and even far into the night. Dr. Johnson replied with another
question. He asked how millions of people found space to live upon
the face of the earth, which is two-thirds water and the rest is
too full of mountains, deserts, forests, icy regions, river beds,
marshes and similar impossible areas. The questioner said that man
somehow struggled to find living space. So too, said Dr, Johnson,
man must somehow find a few minutes a day for prayer to the Lord.

Example of the highest Type of Detachment

Bhakthi and the attitude of surrender that is its final fruits
will give you great courage to meet any emergency; such courage is
what is called Renunciation. The story of Mohajith is a good
example of this highest type of detachment.

Mohajith, the prince, went to a sage in the forest and sought
guidance in the spiritual path. The sage asked him whether he had
conquered attachment as his name indicated. The prince said that
not only he, but every one in his kingdom had! So the sage started
to test the truth of this claim.

The sage took the prince's robes, soaked them in blood and
hastened to the palace gate with the gruesome story of the murder
of the prince by some ruffians in the jungle. The maid whom he met
refused to hurry with the news to the royal apartments because she
said, "He was born, he died; what is the special urgency of this
news that I should interrupt my regular routine and run to the
king and queen?"

When at last he got an audience and was able to communicate the
sad news to the father, he sat unruffled, whispering to himself,
"The bird flew off the tree on which it had alighted to take
rest." The Raani too was unmoved, she told the sage that this
earth is a Caravanaserai, where men come and stay for the night
and when dawn breaks, one by one, they tramp their different ways.
Kith and kin are words we use for the attachment to the travellers
cultivated in the Caravanaserai during the short term of
acquaintance.

The wife of the "dead" prince was also unaffected; she said,
"husband and wife are like two pieces of wood drifting down a
flooded river; they float near each other for some time and when
some current comes between, they are parted: each must move on to
the sea at its own rate and in its own time. There is no need to
grieve over the parting of the two; it is in the very nature of
Nature that it should be so."

Grow with Self-respect and Dignity

The sage was overjoyed to see this steady and sincere Vairaagya
(dispassion) in the rulers and the ruled. He came back to the
forest and told the prince that while he was away, a hostile army
had invaded his kingdom and slain the entire royal family and
captured his kingdom and enslaved his subjects. He took the news
calmly and said, "All this is bubble, impermanent, flimsy. Let it
go the way of the bubble. Guide me to reach the Infinite, the
Imperishable."

Such courage comes out of the grace of the Lord; it needs
generations of learning and struggle. Meanwhile, you must start
with the first step, the cleansing of the mind and the cultivation
of virtue. Even if you do not start with that step, at least do
not laugh a those who do, and discourage them. Do at least this
much! Then, do not depend upon others for doing your work, like
attending to your personal wants. Do them yourself; that is real
freedom. Again, never accept anything 'free' from others, pay it
back, in service or work.

That will make you self-respecting individuals. Receiving a
favour means getting bound to the giver. Grow with self-respect
and dignity. That is the best service you can do to yourself.

There is no Seniority or Juniority among Devotees

'Uncle' moon is 'uncle' to all the children of the world. So
also, the Lord is every one's father, in whose property every one
can claim a share. But in order to get it, you must reach a
certain age, a certain standard of intelligence and
discrimination. The infirm and the idiotic, He will not consider
fit to receive property. His property is grace, Prema. But if you
have discrimination and renunciation, you can claim your share, as
of right.

Bring 'Bhakthi' and lay it here and take from here spiritual
strength! The more such business is done, the more pleased am I.
Bring what you have, namely, your sorrows and griefs, worries and
anxieties, and take from Me joy and peace, courage and confidence.
In My view, there is no seniority or juniority among devotees. The
mother spends more time tending the sickly child; she just asks
the older children to look after themselves; she feeds with her
own hand the infant. That does not mean that she has no love
towards the grown-ups. So too, do not think that because I do not
ostensibly pay more attention to one person, he is beyond the ken
of my Prema.

Note this also. In this Avathaar (divine incarnation), the
wicked will not be destroyed; they will be corrected and reformed
and educated and led back to the path from which they have
strayed. The white-ant infested tree will not be cut; it will be
saved. Again this Avathaar will not select some place other than
the place where the nativity took place for the centre of its
Leelas, Mahimas and Upadhesha (divine sport, miracle power and
divine instruction). This tree shall not be transplanted; it will
grow where it first rose from the earth. Another speciality is
this: the Avathaar has no affinity or attachment in Its career to
members of the family wherein it appeared. Unlike the appearances
as Raama, Krishna, etc., where the life was played out mostly
among and for the family members, this Avathaar is for the
Bhakthas, the Saadhus and the Saadhakas (devotees, noble souls and
aspirants) only. It has no Japa (recitation or holy name), Dhyaana
(meditation) or Yoga (practising union with God). It knows no
worship; it will not pray to anything, for It is the Highest. It
only teaches you to worship and pray.

To a worldly man, a God-intoxicated person will appear mad and
he will laugh at him for it. But to the God-intoxicated man, the
worldly appear insane, foolish, misled, blind. Of all the
inanities that harass man, God-madness is the least harmful, the
most beneficial. The world has suffered untold damage due to its
"mad" rulers and "mad" guides; but nothing but harmony, peace,
brotherliness and love have come out of the 'God-madness' of man!